The NCBLA Honorary and Advisory Boards

The NCBLA Honorary Board

Walter Anderson, formerly the Editor of Parade magazine, is now the Chairman and CEO of the publication. He is a dedicated advocate for children and of literacy as is demonstrated by his involvement in the National Dropout Prevention Fund, the GED, the National Center for Family Literacy Education and the Literacy Volunteers of America. He is the author of five books, including Meant to Be and The Confidence Course.

Senator James Jeffords, an Independent from Vermont, has spent 30 years in Congress. First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974, he is now serving his third term as a U.S. Senator. Before arriving in Washington, he served as a Vermont State Senator from Rutland and held his first statewide office as Vermont Attorney General. Throughout his tenure in Congress, Senator Jeffords has championed legislation to strengthen our nation's education system.

Lois Lowry is the author of thirty-two recognized and award-winning books for children, including Number the Stars, The Giver – both Newbery Medal winners - A Summer to Die, and The Anastasia Krupnik series. She says about her writing: “I try. . .to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another.”

Ann Martin is the author of The Baby-sitters Club, The Kids in Mrs. Colman’s Class, and California Diaries series. She has also written Corner of the Universe and Belle Teal among other highly praised novels. One of Martin’s goals for her work for middle-grade and young adult readers is to embody a strong sense of friendship, integrity, and hard work.

David McCullough is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of John Adams, which is just one of many award-winning books he has written, including The Johnstown Flood, The Great Bridge, The Path Between the Seas, Mornings on Horseback, Brave Companions, and Truman. Mr. McCullough has been an editor, essayist, teacher, lecturer, and familiar presence on public television. He is a past president of the Society of American Historians. He has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has received thirty-one honorary degrees.

Charles Osgood is a multi-talented and award-winning broadcaster, poet, musician, and author. He is the anchor of CBS News Sunday Morning as well as the anchor and writer of The Osgood File on CBS Radio Network. He has written several books, including Defending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack, Funny Letters from Famous People, and How to Think on Your Feet without Falling on Your Face.

Jerry Pinkney has the distinguished honor of being awarded three Caldecott Honor Medals for illustrating John Henry by Julius Lester, The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci, and Mirandy and Brother Wind by Patricia McKissack. In addition to his work on children’s books he has illustrated for the U.S. Postal Service, National Geographic, and RCA Records. Many of Pinkney’s numerous books celebrate multicultural and African-American themes.

Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996 having previously served three terms as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Reed has been a leader in the House and the Senate on education, health care, and campaign finance reform. Reed has a Masters of Public Policy as well as a law degree from Harvard University. He served our country in the Army after attending West Point Military Academy. Reed is a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Marian Rees serves as the Co-Chair for the National Council for Families and Television. Through her own production company she has produced over twenty-one films, many of them recipients of Emmy Awards. Ms. Rees' contributions to both professional and civic organizations have been honored with numerous awards, among them the 1988 Publicists Guild of America Showmanship of the Year Award, Woman of the Year by Woman in Management, the YWCA Achievement Award, and the Producers Guild of America Hall of Fame Contributing Producer – Caucus Member of the Year Nominee 1992.

Maurice Sendak has written more than eighty books, including Where the Wild Things Are, The Night Kitchen, and We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy. He has won almost every important prize in children's literature, from the Caldecott Medal, to the Hans Christian Andersen Award, and the American Library Association's Laura Ingalls Wilder Award. He was also awarded the National Medal of Arts. His creativity doesn’t stop with books, he founded a theater company and his work has inspired an opera, ballet, and videos.

Janet P. Stevens is Vice President – Public Affairs for Verizon Information Services, a business unit of Verizon Communications. VIS is a world-leading directory publisher and produces the Internet’s most-used directory and shopping resource, www.SuperPages.com. Previously Stevens was Vice President – Strategic Communications for GTE Corporation for twenty years and Assistant Vice President – Quality Services at Fidelity Investments.

The NCBLA Advisory Board

Therese Bigelow is Deputy Director for Branches and Library Outreach, Kansas City Public Library. A librarian for over thirty-six years, she has been active with Children’s Literature New England (CLNE) since its inception. She also ran a highly successful Reading is Fundamental program in Virginia. Therese is a past president of the American Library Association's Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC). She served on the ALSC's Notable Books Committee, the 2000 Newbery Committee, and is currently a member of ALA Council. She was a judge for the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. She also serves on the advisory board of Atlanta based Children’s Literature for Children. She was recently elected to a two year term on the Freedom to Read Foundation.

John Cole is a librarian and historian who has served the Library of Congress in many roles since 1966. Currently he is the founding director of the Center for the Book. Under his leadership, the Center for the Book has grown into an office of national and international importance with affiliates in all fifty states and abroad. He is the recipient of the American Library Association’s Lippincott Award. Dr. Cole has published extensively about the history of books and libraries in society and the history of the Library of Congress, and he plays a major role in the National Book Festival.

Leonard Marcus is one of the children's book world's most respected and versatile writers, historians, and critics. His highly acclaimed books about children's literature and the authors and artists who create them include: Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon; Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom; A Caldecott Celebration: Six Artists and Their Paths to the Caldecott Medal; The Making of Goodnight Moon; and 75 Years of Children's Book Week Posters. A Caldecott Celebration, Author Talk, and Side by Side are specially designed to appeal to young readers as well as interested adults. Leonard's other children's books include: Lifelines: A Poetry Anthology Patterned on the Stages of Life; Mother Goose's Little Misfortunes; and Petrouchka: A Ballet Cut-Out Book.
Leonard is one of the most trusted critics in the field. His incisive book reviews have been featured in Parenting magazine in every issue since the monthly magazine's founding in 1987. In addition, Leonard has been a Parenting contributing editor since 1988 and has directed the magazine's annual Reading Magic Awards for excellence in children's literature since their inception in that year. He has also been a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, The Horn Book, Publishers Weekly, and numerous other publications. He was the founding book review editor of The Lion and the Unicorn. Leonard twice judged the New York Times Best Illustrated Books of the Year prize; is a standing member of The Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award committee; and was a judge of the 1996 National Book Awards.
He has been a featured guest on numerous television programs and has organized exhibitions on children's books and their illustration at several libraries. Leonard speaks to parents and professional groups throughout the U. S. and around the world. He enjoys speaking to schoolchildren as well.
Leonard was born and raised in Mount Vernon, New York. He holds degrees in history from Yale and poetry from the University of Iowa Graduate Writers' Workshop. He and his wife, the picture-book artist Amy Schwartz, live with their son Jacob in Brooklyn, New York.

Lynda Johnson Robb is the oldest daughter of former President Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson and a self-proclaimed "professional volunteer." She is currently President of the National Home Library Foundation; Chair Emerita of Reading is Fundamental; and a member of the board of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Research Center. She lives in Virginia with her husband former Virginia Governor and former United States Senator Charles Robb.

Tricia McLeod Robin is the President of the National Council for Families and Television. Previously she served as Vice President of Special Projects at the CBS Television Network from 1984-1986, and Executive Director of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences from 1972-1984.

Susan Roman, a renowned expert in children’s literature and literacy, is the dean of Dominican University’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science located in Chicago, Illinois. She came to Dominican University from the American Library Association where she served as ALA’s first director of development. Roman began her career at ALA in 1986 as executive director of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). At that time, she was also named the executive director of the Association for Library Trustees and Advocates (ALTA). Roman has also served as a member of the national advisory committee for the International Children’s Digital Library, First Book, PBS Ready to Learn, and for the PBS children’s television series Reading Rainbow.

Maria Salvadore served as Coordinator of Children’s Services for the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Public Library. During that time, she taught at Simmons College School of Library Science and worked with the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature. After leaving Cambridge she was the Coordinator of Children’s Service for the District of Columbia Public Library. Currently, Salvadore works as a specialist and consultant in children’s literature and family literacy for the Kennedy Center Education Department, Reading Is Fundamental, PPS Ready To Learn Service, WETA-TV Reading Rockets, Turning The Page, In2Books, DC Early Childhood Education Collaborative, the Phillips Collection, and the Catholic Charities Parenting Program.

Hilary Breed Van Dusen is a senior editor at Candlewick Press Publishing. Previously she worked as the assistant director of the NCBLA, and as the editor-in-chief of the NCBLA website. Her publishing career includes work in both the trade and educational book arena. For seven years she worked as an editor of children’s books at Little, Brown and Company. As an acquiring editor at Heinemann, she managed two lists of professional development books in the area of elementary math and science. She also worked as a curriculum editor of teacher’s guides for elementary science materials published by Steck-Vaughn. She has written and edited reviews for The Horn Book Guide, taught the Junior Great Books program in her local elementary school, and volunteered in her local public school library.